August 4 - Mom Mallard is beginning to teach her three young adults pre-flight. When john and joyce first saw them skimming across the large pond at about 60 mph, they thought something was chasing them. They use their developing wings to provide lift so that only their webbed feet are left in the water. They paddle with these for propulsion and get from 0 - 60 in about 5 seconds. They make the most amazing U-turns at that speed and race each other back and forth across the pond. Even Mom is doing it. She is the wing leader, of course. john and joyce are beginning to realize that it won't be too long until they look out the window and find the ducks gone. Now they know what it is like to see kids leaving home for good. john and joyce really will be empty-nesters soon.

August 16 - john and joyce just returned from their second trip to Canada this year. They went to Collingwood/Wasaga Beach Ontario which is two hours north of Toronto. It is a great place, however the weather was 94 degrees F. It hadn't been that hot since 1970. No air conditioning, of course, and only one fan. john and joyce fried until the day they were leaving and then the temperature dropped back to it's normal 72 degrees F.

john and joyce cannot tell the three "baby" ducks from their mom now. They are almost full grown! It turns out that the one john named Maverick will have to be renamed Mavericka. All three are female. This will increase the chances of them coming back next year and having babies at zenpond. They come right up to joyce and john anytime they see them on the deck. While joyce and john eat dinner they roost right next to the table.

Since john has changed the way he plans to do his filtration, he has an extra 1350 gallon polyethylene tank he wants to sell. He put an ad in several papers and in the newsletter of the Water Garden Society of Greater Kansas City. He made this ad real short and referred the reader to this page, so here are the details of the tank:

This 1350 gallon, thick-walled, tank cost $939.20 new from the Westheffer Company in Lawrence. john has the original invoice. john is willing to sell it for half price or $469 OBO. It has never been used - is brand new. It is 7 feet in diameter and 5 feet deep. It has nine 3 inch openings with bulkhead fittings and plugs. The openings are designed to allow the sediment to settle to the bottom of the tank while skimming clearer water from near the top. john has 30,000 gallons to filter and has decided to use a FluidArt system (costing lots of money) to clear the pond instead. joyce says john must sell this tank before spending any money on the new system. If you are interested in purchasing this tank, contact john through his email address: john@zenpond.com

August 19 - 10 PM - joyce starts a new school year tomorrow morning and is now asleep. She has to be at a conference for teachers in her district by 7:00 AM. This is an hour earlier than most years because the leader of the free world will be visiting one of the district's high schools tomorrow morning.

It is now quiet at zenpond. The waterfalls are whispering and even the bullfrogs seem to know that the teacher needs her sleep. The ducks have their heads under their wings after an exhaustive day of swimming, begging for food and napping repeatedly. There was no need to measure time with gears or electrons today. Today was 17 duck cycles (dc's).

Right now, john and tuck are both on office chairs in the computer room. tuck likes his chair pulled up to john's as close as possible. This makes the probability of a random neck scratch or rub-tum higher. tucka is asleep on his back with his tail, not moving, hanging over the edge.

john had been sitting in the large green corduroy chair and had just started reading, for the fifth time, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". He has read this four other times over the past twenty seven years and has gotten more from it with each reading. Needless to say, it is his favorite book. He has just finished reading the first chapter which ends with one of the most quotable phases from the book:

"The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha -- which is to demean oneself."

And john quotes a famous English author, Ben Johnson, by saying: "... and so to bed."

Good night Gracie.

August 20 - 8:00 AM - joyce is at school and john has just finished breakfast. He has just read in the USA Today, page 7D, that Overland Park, KS is the best surburban city in the U.S. and one of the "kid-friendliest" according to the Washington-based group Zero Population Growth. It is a nice place to live, but john says to please keep that a secret.